The Legend of Zynga

So I have a Facebook (under a pseudonym). And one day to pass the time I decided to log onto one of those stupid Facebook games. I KNOW that it’s a Skinner box and little more. I KNOW that they’re designed to maximize the amount of time, money, and social sharing spent on the game by the user, and that just about the very last thing on their list of priorities is FUN. The last straw on this particular game was when they changed their rules mid-stream and suddenly decided that in addition to spending a pile of gold, and time, on a thing, I NOW have to “hire” other FB friends to “open” the thing I just wasted my time and game money on. When himself asked me, “Is it still fun?” I couldn’t give an honest answer, because it wasn’t in fact ever really fun.

It made me nostalgic for games I played when I was a kid; and in particular, my all-time favorite, the Legend of Zelda (1986, NES). I played that for countless hours. This was in the days before the Internet so I couldn’t go online for hints or walkthroughs, and I was in a small rural area besides, so my siblings and I had to puzzle it out ourselves. And we LOVED it. Each new level, each time the little “You discovered something!” tune played, we were having FUN.

So, well, I got to wondering, what if that game had been made today?

Below are some images I put together with that idea in mind. I give you: the Legend of Zynga.